Legacy of the Wizard – Labyrinthine Odyssey

The NES to many kids was a gateway to adventure and discovery. We cut our teeth on the Zeldas and Dragon Warriors and many more. These games captured our imagination and drew us in. But one of the greatest adventures on the NES is not one of the biggest names. Think back – did you ever play a game called Legacy of the Wizard?

This game is unequivocally the game that I have seen be the answer to the most “what was the name of this game?” threads over the span of multiple forums. Everyone remembers that game where you can choose the dog and explore the dungeon. To others, this game is a beloved favourite that they never forgot. To me, it’s a game I had always wanted to dive into but hadn’t done so until now. And it’s one of those games where I have to step back and ask myself – why didn’t I play and own this as a child?

Legacy of the Wizard is the fourth game in the Dragon Slayer series. It’s an action RPG with multiple characters, a massive dungeon crawling with monsters and traps and puzzles, and many items to find. It’s a game that requires you to take notes and draw maps. It’s a game that throws you to the sharks but does it in a way that helps you learn to swim as well. I’ve talked about this briefly elsewhere on my site, but I felt it deserves a much closer look. Because it’s a tremendous game.

Legacy of Wizard is huge – it’s a dungeon 16 floors deep and 4 rooms wide. Each of these rooms is 4 screens long, making each floor the equivalent of 16 screens long. So the dungeon is 16×16 screens big, or 256 screens. And it is chock full of secrets and hidden passages. One half of a room might be cut off from the rest, maybe having wildly different topography. The dungeon snakes in around itself, it is truly labyrinthine. If you don’t like searching every wall of a game – this one’s not for you. But these passages usually make sense – either the blocks have slight distinctions or they are in intuitive locations. Drawing a map is highly recommended.

You have five characters – A mother, father, son, daughter and their dog. Each has their own strengths, and their own item set.

• Pochi, the pet dog/monster is strong and is not damaged by contact with other enemies. However, he has the shortest range of attack, a low jump height, and can use the fewest items.
• Lyll, the daughter and “elf” has the highest jump height but a low attack strength (but decent range). She can destroy certain blocks with her mattock.
• Xemn, the father and warrior is the most powerful character and gets an item that allows for the precise movement of certain blocks. He has a shortish attack range and low jump height.
• Meyna, the mother and wizard, has a medium jump height and is a little stronger than her kids. She gets a number of magical items that can knock blocks out of the way, unlock doors without keys, and even fly.
• Roas, the son and ranger, has a medium jump height and a weak attack strength. He is the only member of the family who can use crowns to teleport around the labyrinth via portraits and he is the only character that can collect and wield the Dragonslayer to battle Keela the Dragon Lord.

Roas is the character that must complete the game, where the other family members must collect a crown (and fight a boss) each. This means that each character has their own section of the labyrinth (with some overlap) that requires their own unique qualities to solve. This is brilliant – the dungeon is big enough to give every character a solid amount of real estate to play in and it makes each and every family member relevant. One my main beefs with selectable characters or classes is when the abilities and attributes of one character make every other character obsolete. This is not the case in Legacy of the Wizard and it is great to see.

And the dungeon “wings” are no slouches either. They’re rife with spikes and pitfalls and enemies. There are quite a few variety of enemies which come in all flavours of colours. And although these enemies can generally only harm you via contact they all have their own behaviours and speeds and strength. This makes the labyrinth both a lively place and a deadly place. I will admit some of these traps are a little off at times – invisible enemies that essentially can’t be harmed until you are in contact with them ensuring that you take damage. I lost a solid run because I couldn’t see and couldn’t harm an enemy on the way to a chest. It was a smack in the face, but I picked the game back up and rocked it soundly the next time. Don’t worry though – these sorts of surprises are few and far between.

Your Health is not the only quantity you need to keep an eye on. Your Magic level as well needs to be watched. Magic is very important in Legacy of the Wizard – just as important as Health. Every attack you use expends magic. Many of the items you will find expend magic, some as a factor over time. Depending on your character, it can become a question like “Should I avoid these enemies? My magic is almost out and I need it to fly through that passage… but the enemies will harass me on route and kill me if I’m not quick.”

It adds a layer of strategy. The amount of limiting factors in Legacy of the Wizard might turn some people off – I will admit that. You have to watch your Health, Magic, Gold, and Keys. Not only that, but you can take fall damage if you drop farther than your jump height. There are a lot of little peculiarities and factors that can put off a newcomer. But I see this more as a need to play intelligently. To learn the game, its intricacies, and excel within these confines. Will you be conservative? Will you be aggressive? The situation and character can call for vastly different approaches.

Throughout the dungeon there are many Inns and Shops – for this reason it is important to stock up on gold. Inns restore magic and health an are relatively frequent. Shops sell items but the only items you want to buy are consumables and the secret, obscurely hidden Shield. It’s wise to keep money for Inns, because things can go south in a hurry. I would recommend collecting the items from chests, for which you will need the keys occasionally dropped by monsters. Items and money and keys are shared between all of the characters, so yet another layer of strategy is present in proper resource management.

While ultimately you will use certain characters in certain situations, the game is flexible enough that you can deviate from the expected pattern a little. You can either collect some items then leave the dungeon to record your password, or risk it all and try to get a crown at the same time. If you would rather buy items from the shops you will need to grind – but this can allow you be more discerning in your character order. I wouldn’t recommend something like taking on Boss 3 or 4 with Pochi, mind you, but the option is there if you want to try it that way.

Like most games I talk about on this site, Legacy is not for everyone. It is decidedly old school and at times refuses to pull its punches. It’s the kind of game that will kick your arse until you get into the groove of things. Until you take the time to explore the labyrinth and learn the ins and outs of each Worzen family member. Only when everything starts to fall into place will the progress become rapid. But you have to put the effort into it first.

Legacy of the Wizard is a relatively open world, and while there are definite methods to clearing it the game is still nonlinear. It’s very Metroid at times, really. You can plot your own course through it, taking a path that‘s most cohesive with your playstyle. These are concepts that people expect and even demand these days, but this is a nascent take on it. So even if you want to take a peek for academic reasons, this is an early example of nonlinear game progression. And not only is it an early example, it’s an excellent one.

I would be remiss not to talk about the presentation of Legacy of the Wizard. The sprites are simple – characters and enemies fit into a one block squared area. But changes in palettes and the overall style of the sprites keeps things very visually interesting. This game is so colourful and vibrant, the sprites just drip liveliness (and kawaiiness). Some of the background elements are clever too – like when you realize a set of rooms collectively form a set of eyes and grinning mouth. And it’s all brought home by a gorgeous Yuzo Koshiro soundtrack. Loops are a little short, but they sound fantastic and each section of the labyrinth has its own theme. So it sounds great and it doesn’t get old! The music is purposeful and the scope of the dungeon makes you eel very small. The execution is spot on.

If you’re a fan of NES adventures and you want to test your mettle then this is a game that you should find very agreeable. It does so many things intelligently from dungeon layout to character importance. And the thing is – it’s just so unassuming. There are some pratfalls that will turn some folks off, but I urge you that if you are at all interested in this game then you should certainly give it some time. Don’t just play the first few rooms and quit once you realize there is fall damage. Take the time to appreciate the reason that elements are the way they are, and the brilliance of this dungeon. Legacy of the Wizard is an unsung gem of the NES, and it needs to get more play.